The Threats That Led TIFF to Pull 'Russians at War'; Newsom Signs AI Bills; 'The Sims' Movie Lands at Amazon; Feinberg's Early Oscar Predictions

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 18, 2024 What's news: ID is producing a docuseries on Sean 'Diddy' Combs. The Bachelorette winner Devin Strader was arrested and had a restraining order filed against him years before going on the show. Lionsgate and AI research firm Runway have inked a deal. Snapchat is planning a wholesale revamp of its app. John Cena will star in a live-action Matchbox toy cars movie. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. The Threats That Led TIFF to Pull 'Russians at War' ►"We were horrified, and our staff members were understandably frightened." The Toronto Film Festival has revealed that “hundreds” of threats made against staff led to the festival taking the unprecedented decision to pull controversial documentary Russians at War from the line-up last week – including threats of violence and sexual assault. On Tuesday, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey offered more detail on what happened, revealing that most of the protests against screening Anastasia Trofimova’s film “was civil and peaceful,” but that "some of it was terrifying." As well as the threats, THR understands that a number of former TIFF staffers had received inquiries about theater floor plans, along with questions about where talent exactly enters and exits from. [The story.]( —Claim to fund medical care. A newly-revised complaint in Wendy Williams‘ lawsuit against Lifetime parent company A+E Networks over the release of a documentary chronicling her deteriorating mental and physical state looks for all profits from the project to fund her medical care. The amended complaint, filed on Sept. 16 in New York County Supreme Court, says that Williams received roughly $82,000 for her participation in the project, which documented her life for the better part of a year and showed her downward spiral as she struggled with family, fame and excessive alcohol consumption. [The story.]( —Past arrest. Prior to joining the cast of ABC's The Bachelorette — and ultimately winning the final rose and being briefly engaged to lead Jenn Tran — Devin Strader was arrested and had a restraining order filed against him. RealitySteve, who reports spoilers and news on the Bachelor franchise, published an affidavit reportedly from Strader’s arrest warrant on one felony count of “simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling” seven years before the show’s most recent season. At the time, Strader was arrested on accusations that he burglarized an ex-girlfriend’s home in Louisiana. His ex-girlfriend also had a restraining order against him at the time. [The story.]( —🤝 Significant move 🤝 Lionsgate and the video-focused AI research firm Runway have inked a deal that will see Runway train a new generative AI model on Lionsgate content, and will see the entertainment company use the tech as it produces future film and TV projects. While details are scarce, the companies say that the new model will be “customized to Lionsgate’s proprietary portfolio of film and television content,” and exclusive to the studio. The purpose will be to “help Lionsgate Studios, its filmmakers, directors and other creative talent augment their work.” [The story.]( Diddy to Be Detained Pending Sex Trafficking Trial ►The latest. Sean “Diddy” Combs was ordered to be detained pending trial Tuesday after he pleaded not guilty to charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. On Tuesday morning, the government unsealed a three-county indictment accusing Combs of various crimes related to an alleged decades-long pattern of physical and sexual violence against women in his orbit. Federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering for directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various businesses from at least 2008. The indictment also refers to a series of events called “Freak Offs,” in which commercial sex workers were allegedly brought in by Combs, who then “used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts” that were recorded and could last for days. [The story.]( —"The doc traces the story of this self-proclaimed Bad Boy, unraveling allegations of a pattern of depravity." Investigation Discovery, the true-crime network behind this year’s bombshell Quiet on Set, announced on Wednesday they are in production on a docuseries exploring the rise and fall of Combs. The multipart doc is set for a 2025 release, and will review "the allegations of violent behavior and illegal activity that have trailed the music mogul." [The story.]( 'Scandal' Cast to Reunite for Harris Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour ►The Gladiators are back! The cast of Scandal is reuniting this weekend in Michigan for the Harris-Walz campaign’s Fighting for Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour. Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn, Guillermo Díaz, Bellamy Young, Katie Lowes, Dan Bucatinsky, Scott Foley, Portia de Rossi, George Newbern, Jeff Perry and Cornelius Smith Jr. will join hundreds of supporters and volunteers for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on Sunday at a canvass launch in Madison Heights for the first stop of the Michigan bus tour, as it travels the state to lay out the stakes for reproductive freedom with the 2024 election. [The story.]( —"Vote like your life depends on it, because it does." Billie Eilish and Finneas have endorsed Kamala Harris. The sibling musicians took to Instagram on Tuesday, National Voter Registration Day, to share their election preference. “We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet and our democracy,” Eilish says in the clip. [The story.]( Newsom Signs Bills Regulating AI Performance Replicas ►"We're making sure that no one turns over their name, image and likeness to unscrupulous people without representation." California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed two union-supported bills restricting the use of AI digital replicas of performers into law. In a symbolic move, the governor visited the L.A. headquarters of SAG-AFTRA on Monday to officially greenlight the bills, AB 2602 and AB 1836, which were passed by the California state Senate in August. SAG-AFTRA sponsored both bills after instituting initial AI protections for members in its 2023 TV/theatrical contract. [The story](. —Copyright infringement suit. Miley Cyrus has been sued for allegedly ripping off Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” for her Grammy-winning hit song “Flowers.” The lawsuit was brought by Tempo Music Investments, which acquired in 2020 a share of the copyright to the Mars track from songwriter Philip Lawrence. It accuses Cyrus of “intentional copying” constituting infringement. Songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollock, who cowrote the song with Cyrus, Sony Music Publishing, and distributors of the song, including Apple, Live Nation and Amazon, were also named in the complaint, which doesn’t involve Mars on either side. [The story.]( —Songrwriter extraordinaire. JD Souther, the singer and songwriter who co-wrote songs with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, has died. He was 78. A Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, Souther was responsible for some of the Eagles’ biggest hits, including the songs “Best of My Love”, “Victim of Love”, “Heartache Tonight”, and “New Kid in Town”. “How Long.” With Ronstadt, he wrote and duetted on the classic songs “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Sometimes You Can’t Win” and “Hearts Against the Wind.” He also enjoyed a successful solo career and penned the hit songs “You’re Only Lonely” and “Her Town Too,” the latter a duet with James Taylor. [The obituary.]( —Major change. Meta’s Instagram is launching a new experience specifically for teenage users, placing a number of restrictions and limits on how they use the app, and giving parents more control, in a bid to create a healthier environment for users. All teenagers will automatically be placed into teen accounts, and users under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any settings. Meta is also developing technology to detect if a user has lied about their age, and will shift them into teen accounts if it believes they have. [The story.]( —TikTokification. Snapchat is planning a wholesale revamp of its app, promising a “simple” interface, a number of generative artificial intelligence features, and — of particular interest to Hollywood — a unified video entertainment experience, which will combine creator-driven videos and professionally-produced “Spotlight” videos in one place. The tech giant also announced a slew of AI features, and a new version of its augmented reality Spectacles at a partner event Tuesday. [The story.]( 'The Sims' Movie Lands at Amazon MGM ►Coming to life. Amazon MGM Studios announced Tuesday that a film based on the long-running Electronic Arts gaming series The Sims is in development. Kate Herron, known for directing the Disney+ series Loki, will helm the feature from a script that she is co-writing with Briony Redman. Margot Robbie's LuckyChap and Vertigo Entertainment are producing the project with EA’s The Sims team. Herron and Redman will serve as executive producers. [The story.]( —🎭 Keeping busy 🎭 Jennifer Lopez and Ted Lasso standout Brett Goldstein are set to star in the Netflix rom-com Office Romance. Goldstein is writing the script with Joe Kelly. Alas, plot details have not been shared, and a director is not yet attached. Lopez is racking up the credits with Netflix, and has starred in the features Atlas and The Mother in the last few years. [The story.]( —🎭 Muscle cars 🎭 John Cena has signed on to star in Matchbox, a live-action take on the classic Mattel car toyline. Apple Original Films has snagged the mighty film package that hails from Skydance and Mattel Films. Sam Hargrave, the director behind the gritty Extraction movies, is on board to helm the feature. The project is coming in full throttle with a screenplay by David Coggeshall, who wrote action comedy The Family Plan for Apple, and Jonathan Tropper, the author and scribe who wrote the Ryan Reynolds action-adventure feature The Adam Project. [The story.]( —Out of this world. Spain has picked Saturn Return, a 1990s-set biopic of Spanish indie rock band Los Planetas, to represent the country in the best international feature race for the 2025 Oscars. Directed by Isaki Lacuesta And Pol Rodríguez, Saturn Return premiered at the Malaga Film Festival, winning prizes for best director, best editing and best Spanish film. It has been making the festival rounds, screening at the Seattle Film Festival, the Guadalajara International Film Festival, and the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema. [The story.]( Peacock Reveals Docuseries Based on 'Grey's Anatomy' Writer Case ►"For years she fooled Hollywood." The case of Elisabeth Finch was one that shocked the entertainment industry, and now a three-part docuseries will bring the tale to a wider audience. On Tuesday, Peacock revealed that it is finalizing a three-part docuseries, Anatomy of Lies, on the saga of the former Grey’s Anatomy writer and executive producer, whose harrowing story of bone cancer inspired at least one storyline on the ABC juggernaut until it was cast into doubt starting in 2022. Anatomy of Lies is co-directed by executive produced Evgenia Peretz, the author of a two-part Vanity Fair series about Finch’s time in Hollywood. [The story.]( —You get a special! And you get a special! Just a few days after airing her ABC exploration of artificial intelligence with leaders in the tech community, Oprah Winfrey has set her TV outing at CBS. An Oprah Special: The Presleys – Elvis, Lisa Marie And Riley is the result of Winfrey’s recent trip to Elvis Presley‘s historic Graceland Mansion where she interviewed Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough. The actress' sit-down with the queen of sit-downs comes nearly two years after the shock death of her mother, Lisa Marie at 54 years old. [The story.]( —Spooky down under. Paramount+ has greenlit the Aussie original drama series Playing Gracie Darling. Created and written by Undertow's Miranda Nation, the show centers on the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl, Gracie Darling, during a séance 27 years ago. Set to debut in 2025, the six-hour supernatural thriller is produced by Curio Pictures, with Sony Pictures Television handling international distribution. [The story.]( —For sale. Designer, editor and author Hal Rubenstein is looking to bring his best-selling book about the influence of television on fashion … to television. Rubenstein, a founding editor of InStyle magazine, is developing a docuseries based on his best-selling 2023 book Dressing the Part: Television’s Most Stylish Shows along with unscripted producer Magilla Entertainment (Discovery’s Moonshiners, HGTV’s Beachfront Bargain Hunt). The producers are taking the show to potential buyers this week. [The story.]( The Early Oscar Predictions, Post-Venice/Telluride/Toronto ►Fiennes' time? With a series of major film festivals wrapping for another year, THR's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg shares his take on 16 Academy Awards categories — now including cinematography, costume design, film editing, original score and production design! [The forecast.]( In other news... —Bong Joon Ho's [Mickey 17 trailer kills Robert Pattinson again (and again)]( —Cillian Murphy [wrestles with taking on Catholic Church in Small Things Like These trailer]( —Heartstopper [S3 trailer hints at mental health struggles; Jonathan Bailey cameo]( —The Office Australia [trailer from Amazon offers first look at female David Brent]( —Joshua Jackson [debuts as Doctor Odyssey in trailer for Ryan Murphy ABC series]( —Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage [are twins with criminal pasts in Brothers trailer]( —Gaumont CEO [Sidonie Dumas to receive 2024 International Emmy Directorate Award]( —Hulu launches $1.99 streaming deal: [Here’s how to see if you qualify for the offer]( —Frasier reboot is back for S2: [Here’s where to watch it online]( ​​​What else we're reading... —Kris Maher, Valerie Bauerlein and Tawnell D. Hobbs report on how the Trump campaign ran with rumors about pet-eating migrants, even after being told they weren’t true [[WSJ]( —Hillary Frey misses the old Survivor and argues the series has lost what made it so addictive to watch [[Slate]( —Nicole Kidman is churning out prestige TV appearances at the moment, and Alex Abad-Santos is loving that the Oscar-winning actress has become the new queen of TV killer thrillers [[Vox]( —With Agatha All Along hitting Disney+, Alan Siegel takes the opportunity to praise the singular comic talents of Kathryn Hahn [[Ringer]( —Elizabeth Spiers looks at the real reason Kamala Harris' southern twang is driving Republicans crazy [[NYT]( Today... ...in 1963, MGM opened producer-director Robert Wise’s horror film The Haunting in theaters. Jan de Bont remade the film in 1999, starring Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: James Marsden (51), [Jason Sudeikis]( (49), Aisha Tyler (54), Jada Pinkett Smith (53), Billy Eichner (46), Holly Robinson Peete (60), Aidan Gallagher (21), Christina Chong (41), Christopher Heyerdahl (61), Alison Lohman (45), Patrick Schwarzenegger (31), Tara Fitzgerald (57), Adeel Akhtar (44), Beth Grant (75), Charity Wakefield (44), Babs Olusanmokun (40), Anna Thomson (71), Chris Riggi (39), Sepideh Moafi (39), Nina Arianda (40), Tim McInnerny (68), Michael Landes (52), Frankie Avalon (84), Keeley Hazell (38), Denis Ménochet (48), Priya Bapat (38), Travis Schuldt (50), Jinkx Monsoon (37), Gailard Sartain (78), Anna Deavere Smith (74), Jackson Robert Scott (16), Nicole da Silva (43), Jeremiah Birkett (60), Carrie Genzel (53), Sophina Brown (48) David Handelman, a print journalist turned TV writer who worked on the Aaron Sorkin series Sports Night, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Newsroom, has died. He was 63. [The obituary.]( ADVERTISEMENT This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](